


Company Town

by Pendaren



Category: Blindspot (TV), Eureka (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, F/M, Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 00:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15545352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pendaren/pseuds/Pendaren
Summary: An undercover mission in a town called Eureka takes an interesting turn.





	Company Town

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Blindspot Season 3 Finale, Entire Eureka Series (But not important unless you plan on watching the series in the future and don’t want to be spoiled)  
> Categories: Angst, Unrequited with possibility  
> Pairing: Patler (or is it Welterson)  
> Rating: PG  
> Warnings: You do need a knowledge of Blindspot. The reader should know which character is which. You do not need to know Eureka. Eureka fans may get a little bogged down as I introduce that Universe. 
> 
> Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, not even in my wildest dreams; or so the men in the white coats with the cups of colorful pills tell me.
> 
> Authors note: I have not found a single fic for this ship, so I guess I’m first (If I’m not PLEASE point me in the direction of more. I seem to have the habit of shipping RARE ships in many fandoms and this is my second fic to be the “First”). Yes, the title and basic plot is from a Pensacola Wings of Gold episode as it is the only reasonable plot I can think of to get my ship temporarily together in any realistic way without breaking canon.  
> Thanks a million to taleanaomi for beta-ing this crazy mess.

oOo

Agent Patterson was muttering to herself as she typed away on her console, the screens displaying all kinds of things around her. Those working around her ignored her as she continued her task, to try and find Jane Doe’s cure from the clues left by her brother Roman, or whoever she was, now that her old Remi personality was in control. Without the cure, she would vacillate between the hate all government, screw them all, Remi and the friendly Jane, Agent Weller’s wife, they knew.

There was also a third personality, that Patterson took to calling ‘Jami’ in her head, who was the most dangerous as she sometimes had the memories of both Jane and Remi but not the emotions. She was neither the Loving Wife or the Government Hater but a logical middle ground version, who saw Weller as more of a sibling than husband. That version could be cold and judgmental. During one of Remi’s bouts in control, she’d had her tats removed. Her reasoning was her tattoos were outdated and therefore useless, and she saw any new discoveries at this point would hurt her side more and help the government. All Patterson had was the database now.

An alert popped up and she shifted her focus to the new notice. Someone had hijacked one of the piloted missile tests and the military was looking for the source of the hack. Apparently, the military weren’t getting anywhere on their own, so they’d widened their resource pool and as the head of the FBI Forensic Science Unit, she was one of the first on that list.

  

oOo

  

Seven hours later she finally narrowed the source to a small town called Eureka but ran into all kinds of digital walls when she tried to get closer. A few quasi-illegal maneuvers later she was knee deep in a mess. It seems like the town was basically a huge think tank and genius breeding ground, breeding in the literal sense as well as figurative. The town company, Global Dynamics, used to be owned by the government and was still a major source of many military and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contracts not to mention had deep ties to the CIA and NSA.

From what she could gather, the town was small and very tight knit. The records she succeeded in digging up showed they had a felon hacker who, despite having been suspected of multiple violations, was fiercely defended and even got a pardon from some Senator. She hit a road block and was unable to dig deeper as to who or why. She tried to take a look at various other people in the town and kept hitting road blocks left and right. She tried every which way to gather information, but it seemed like the town had more classified incidences and connections than she had clearance to read. The town was so classified that the sheriff’s own personnel file had a classification that HE didn’t have clearance to read and even the Tesla High School records had a security clearance. She tried to access a student record and the screen flashed **Participated in the Annual Rocket Daze 2016, a 24-hour Race to the** … before blinking away because a sophisticated sniffer program intervened and locked her out of the rest.

There was no way she could find the culprit from her office. Even an attempt to catch a simple live Keyhole Sat image failed as there was some sort of EM interference. They were going to have to take a trip and hunt down the hacker there. Unfortunately, the town was so tight knit, saying they were going to hunt down and arrest one of their inhabitants was going to be a non-sequitur and so she decided that despite the clearance levels of the majority of the residences the whole missile hijack and the team’s presence there would remain secret. Not to mention that the hacker could BE any one of them so keeping the fact they were on a hunt was the wisest course of action.

She spent the next hour creating false occupations for the team, including herself. Since Zapata had fallen off the face of the earth, and wasn’t even CIA anymore, she contacted Z’s old boss and their liaison, Deputy Director Jake Keaton because if the hacker was part of one of their projects she would need CIA clearance to access the files if the time came to it.

  

oOo

 

They touched down at the airport and split up to drive into Eureka after distributing the comm units. Their cover was agents of the Environmental Protection Agency and their official reason for being there was to deal with population growth and its environmental impact. After all, the town had started off as a military base and after it went private it needed a new review.

Keaton went with Reade in one car to visit Dr. Henry Deacon, the head of GD and the only one who knew their true agenda and Weller handed her the keys, so he could truly ride ‘shotgun’ in case the need arose, as they were heading towards the company headquarters to place monitoring devices and poke around there.

She drove them towards what the classified map said was GD but came face to face with a broken bridge. Weller gestured for her to park on the side of the road and they both got out to get their bearings.

“I’m sure this is where GD is supposed to be. The map doesn’t show any other road that leads to the area,” Patterson declared.

“Maybe there is a glitch in the GPS?” Weller questioned as he sat on the hood of the car. The hood made a ‘thunk’ sound as he did so.

“And the map? This IS the road that is supposed to lead to it, I made sure at the first mile marker, and there wasn’t a single turn off for 2 miles, PLUS there was the restricted area sign we passed,” Patterson said, the hood dipping but not making a sound as she placed her weight on it as well.

“The building isn’t on the regular map and maps aren’t always accurate when it comes to small towns. Guess we will have to meet up with the team and ask Deacon for the correct directions,” Weller stated.

“This place IS supposed to have some top-secret countermeasure to prevent accidental infiltration. I couldn’t even find a single picture of the place it is so secretive. You need a security clearance just to know it exists. Maybe there is a…” Patterson started to respond but there was a sound behind the car and they saw a Jeep with lights on top come down the road. The sheriff was heading their way.

“I got a question and I hope there is an answer to it. Any reason a couple of EPA agents would be parked outside of a top security installation?” Weller pointed out.

“I know one. You ever see the escalator scene in Captain America 2?” Patterson asked.

“Doesn’t she kiss him in that scene?” Weller inquired.

“Well, Yes. To avoid being noticed because PDA makes people uncomfortable and that wouldn’t really work in our case since we are the only ones out here and there is no way we can avoid him noticing and stopping to talk to us but …” Patterson rambled. Weller stopped the rest of what she had to say with a kiss that caused her to close her eyes. Her hands were in his hair by the time the sheriff opened his door.

“Excuse me,” the sheriff called out. Weller decided to play the part of being totally distracted and instead of pulling away immediately he leaned in a little further and deepened the kiss as he waited for the inevitable second call.

“Hey!” The sheriff called out as he walked closer. Weller broke the kiss and pulled away slowly but stayed where he was. Not only could the sheriff be trigger happy if he moved too fast, he needed to recompose himself. Patterson was breathing a little heavily and could probably use the time to calm down too.

“Sorry, what did you say?” he asked without breaking eye contact with her.

“I didn’t say anything really but, now that I have your attention, you do know you are in a restricted area, right?”

Weller cleared his throat, mouthed sorry to Patterson and then got off the hood of the car. She smiled back and got down as well while adjusting her shirt.

“You are part of that environmental team, aren’t you?” the sheriff asked as he approached them.

“Yeah, how did you know?” Patterson sheepishly responded.

“Small town,” the sheriff said and then pointed to his uniform and badge. “Sheriff,”

“Oh, right,” Patterson nodded.

“So, whacha doing out here?” the sheriff continued.

“Uh, um,” Patterson closed her eyes and responded in a gradually increasing pitch “Looking at trees, and admiring the view and making out …”

“Kissing,” Weller corrected, as if he would do something so Teeny-Bopper as make out.

“Kissing, and I’m sure you can understand that, you probably did it yourself once, and we didn’t know that we were doing it in a restricted area.” Patterson continued.

“Actually, I was hoping to get into a restricted area,” Weller smirked, getting into character, and received a smack to the belly for the comment.

“We will get going and get out of your hair,” Patterson pecked Weller instinctively, her nervousness and the role play getting the better of her. “We are sorry for the misunderstanding, your town seems so pretty and well, you have a nice day,” she rambled all while starting towards the passenger side before remembering she had the keys and doubling backed to get behind the wheel.

Once inside, Weller leaned over her and smiled sweetly at the sheriff through her window as she started the engine and they made the U-turn to drive off.

 

oOo

 

“Jane is going to kill me when we get her back,” Patterson moaned as she drove.

“You think I’d be any safer? Besides, I’m the one who kissed you, remember?” Weller said.

“It was my idea though,” Patterson replied.

“This AAR is going to be a doozy to write,” Weller complained.

“After Action Reports do suck in the best circumstances. At least it wasn’t with Reade. He treats me like a leper since I caught him in a lie, I saved his life, we had our big talk about Dr. Sun, my half-brother and his … it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, I’m sure a kiss between you two would not have passed muster given his attitude towards you, although… you do like younger men.”

Patterson tried to retort but since she was older than both David and Borden he had a point. All she came up with was a lame. “I like you, I mean, I like older men too, I mean, you are not old, that is to say, five years… Oh, just forget it before I dig this hole any further.”

Weller snickered as the car came face to face with the rest of the team. Reade gestured for them to turn back around and they all pulled over.

They had three other passengers with them, one a ten-year-old child. The oldest introduced himself as Henry Deacon, had them sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, and handed them both clearance badges so they could continue into the facility. “You have all been granted clearance to enter the facility to check out our population data and personal growth assessments. Of course, the standard NDA applies, anything you see is Classified, National Security, Treason, etc, etc.”

The man then introduced the other two. “This is Dr. Kevin Blake, he works at GD, and Jenna Stark. Their mother, Dr. Allison Blake is the head of medical.”

“Children have clearance to enter the building?” Weller asked.

“It IS the hospital for the town. Can’t have medical care if you aren’t cleared to go to the hospital. All the children in Eureka have clearance. The school even does field trips,” Henry explained. “Shall we?”

They headed back into their respective cars, Henry behind the wheel of one and Kevin, having taken the keys from Patterson, behind the other. “This isn’t a dis on female drivers. The entry into GD can be unsettling for first timers. It can take a bit of getting used to.”

“Why is it unnerving?”

Before they could be given an answer neither car slowed down as they approached the broken bridge. In fact, they both continued at a fast pace. They could see the silhouette of Reade grabbing the roof like a cat and the car vanished with a minor shimmer in some sort of field.

“Hologram?” Patterson asked.

“It’s much more than that. It’s hard to explain,” Kevin replied, and they also drove over the field.

 

oOo

 

Patterson had seen at least two things that she thought were only theoretical as they drove up to the building, not including the countermeasure that hid the building from the road. As they pulled in they saw the sheriff approach the vehicles along with a woman in an all-black outfit.

“Henry,” the sheriff called out.

“Jack! Jo!” Henry shouted back. “This is Sheriff Jack Carter and Jo Lupo, Head of GD Security.” Henry did the introductions, the sheriff and Lupo insisting on being called their first names, and when it came to shake Weller’s hand, Jack smiled widely and commented pointedly. “That was some kiss you two.”

“And I got it on video,” Jo added. “four angles.”

“Kiss?!” Reade exclaimed at the same time that Keaton said, “You two love birds can’t keep your hands off each other for five minutes?”

“So that wasn’t some ploy?” Jo asked and before either Weller or Patterson could answer Keaton fanned the fire with, “Nope. They are in the honeymoon phase and you know how oxytocin can get.”

Patterson stared at him and mouthed ‘You’re dead,’ while Weller mouthed ‘I’m going to kill you’.

“That makes things easy then. Because of some special science delegation to judge the science fair we only have two rooms available at the Bed & Breakfast and it really isn’t configured with a three-man room,” Jack said with relief in his voice, as it was his turn to bring any straggler home.

“I’m sure Zoe would love to pick their brains, speaking of the devil,” Jo pointed to a blond coming down the walkway. “Zoe, these are the folks from the video I sent you.”

“This is wonderful. I’m Dr. Zoe Carter.” The blond introduced herself before turning towards the ten-year-old and Jack. “Hey Dad! Allison isn’t in medical right now. She is dealing with Fargo’s most recent project that he dropped off. Would you take Jenna there? Jo can take the others to see the environmental efforts Eureka has to accommodate and counter any growth while I take these two to look at the predictive model for our population based on our past growth, medical and social data.”

“Do your environmental efforts include only infrastructure or sanitation and food as well? What about power and water?” Patterson asked as they started walking their separate ways.

“Oh please, we have compact Fusion, portable Fission and thermal electric generators that have efficiencies that are way beyond the public ten percent. Our solar is unparalleled. Our main nuclear material is Globidium - which is much more efficient than plutonium or even polonium in thermal electric and less dangerous to power our cores - and our secret source of polonium makes NASA drool. Not to mention we have working Lithium-Air and Silicon-Air batteries because we have overcome the common hurdles the rest of the world can’t seem to crack and hopefully we will be releasing them to the public when the government lets us. They are only currently available for the children’s toys and aren’t allowed to leave city limits. And water? We made the Mars and Titan missions possible with our tech.”

“I thought you were a medical doctor?” Patterson questioned. “Missions?”

“You are correct, I am a MD. I took Remedial Eureka History at Tesla High.” Dr. Carter said, and side stepped the second question “If you really want an in-depth history you should ask the grandchildren of the founders like an Oppenheimer, Einstein or Fargo. Most stayed in Eureka and work for GD. Though Fargo is with DARPA now, he stops by often with Holly.”

“Anyway, as far as population growth goes, the data is quite comprehensive. The new data set includes the fact that the Government is down sizing Groom Lake and we generally hire those that meet our standards. The children at Tesla fill out questionnaires on their family planning. Our reproductive predictive models are based on everyone’s medical issues and social standing and future desires.”

“How about firings?” Patterson asked.

“We redact less that the government did, and for those parents that do lose their jobs, we have a foster care system to keep the children of the redacted parents if the children choose to stay. Our education system is second to none and we prioritize those who have gone through our school system when it comes to hiring. – which is why most do stay in care instead of moving out when their parents have to.”

“And those that chose to quit?”

“Our retention is high, even with our higher than average death toll rate. Being on the cutting edge can be dangerous and has killed plenty in this town but people just don’t like to move away because the opportunity to achieve is light-years beyond anything out there. The kids go off to college and most return to work for the community. - Though I think that is mostly because Café Diem is free to all residents and the Spa is open to all GD employees and of course housing is free, as long as you have one household member employed at GD or any of the ‘businesses’ in town. With all that, and more, we have created an accurate model for us to base our town growth on. Like I said, quite comprehensive. Feel free to take a look at the computer model and the statistics behind it.”

 

oOo

 

The three walked into the medical bay that looked like it was a cross of a science fiction show’s medical bay and a tech lab.

“Since all the data is already collated, your job here is much easier and that gives you the time to participate in my study. It will only take two days. What do you say?” Doctor Carter pleaded.

“What study Dr. Carter?” Weller asked.

“Oh, please call me Zoe. It is a study on inter-office fraternization and the effect it has on the dynamics of the entire office with emphasis on leader/subordinate or rank differences or positions that personal judgement of the parties or perceived bias by outsiders can affect decision making.” Zoe explained.

Weller kept his face blank. He had no clue what any of that meant but he was supposed to be a capable EPA agent. He opted to pretend indifference and not display his confused FBI self .

“You see the Town is owned by Trev-Trent Rockwell and he is very old fashioned. He was curious as to why there was more divorce in modern times and marriage was more stable in the past and he felt it couldn’t be just a fault of patriarchy and the whole control of divorce being in the man’s hands. We also have Warren Hughes, the head auditor of the DOD that is responsible for evaluating the threat level of any personnel interaction, retiring soon. Between those two inspirations we did studies to answer the questions: Will my relationship endanger others or otherwise interfere with life/work and will my relationship last?”.

“Can you imagine a future where the honeymoon phase doesn’t interfere or endanger anyone? Where you don’t suffer the conditional love phase without professional help and it passes quickly instead of causing break-ups, and you transition into the stable commitment phase safely and happily? Where you know if you will make it to the long-term attachment love instead of a cycle of trying?”

“Anyways. We have discovered a lot. Between some memory analysis, top-notch computer algorithms and chemical augmentations we have the answers.”

“Sounds interesting,” Patterson said.

“I can count you in then?” Zoe asked.

“Why not?” Weller said.

“And if the test says you aren’t ‘meant-to-be’, you don’t even have to drown your sorrows in a pint of chocolate mint chip. I have a shot to help you.” Zoe commented as she pulled out her questionnaire.

“So, did one of you suffer limerence before the relationship started?” Zoe asked. “That is…”

“I did,” Patterson blurted out as Weller looked at her curiously. “You don’t need to explain it.”

“Okay. Zoe looked from her with concern then to him. “Do you think you may still be?”

“Oh no. It was short lived. I actually transitioned out of it way before anything happened.” Patterson said.

“What is limerence?” Weller asked. Given that Zoe had started explaining it, he took the chance that his question would not make him look dumb.

“I had a crush on you a few years back when I met you. It was before David and Jane and B-all that.” Patterson blurted out. “I mean, maybe, if Jane never entered the picture and I never met David, who knows, but I did, she did, and my feelings were gone by the time you married her, so I never brought it up, even when she left you. I was happy just being your friend because I know even those are hard for you.”

“Well, let’s hook you up so the computer can scan your memories to see if there were ever any relationship issues, or internal conflicts and if you resolved it on your own or needed outside intervention. I will also take some in-depth brain scans.” Zoe started wiring them up. The beds were across from each other with their heads in the center. “You will be immersed together in a virtual world where only you can see each other’s memories and feel each other’s feelings, don’t worry, I can’t see or hear anything. The computer will be the only one who knows everything and do the calculations and run your statistics based on what it sees. You can steer the images that you share with each other yourself, so if you really don’t want to share something, don’t worry. You are in full control. Just know that withholding affects the trust statistic.”

“So, we will be in a shared-consciousness simulation?” Patterson asked excitedly.

“Yes, full immersion. The world is one that you can control. You are not just a passenger,” Zoe said as she completed wiring the pair and started the connections.

The equipment hummed and the pair lost consciousness.

 

oOo

 

Patterson opened her virtual eyes to see a white dome over her and Weller. She was excited to be in a created world that linked brains, so to speak.

“So why is still having a crush on your ‘boyfriend’ a bad thing?” Weller asked.

“Limerence is more infatuation or obsession than love. More OCD than attentive. Yes, it may be what gives you butterflies in your stomach and causes crushes, but it is unhealthy if you let it take over, or don’t transition out of, and it is what stalkers suffer from or those that are in abusive relationships. When you seek affection over respect and love and even intimacy and don’t really care about the well-being of the other party in your pursuit of affection, or you don’t care for your own well-being as long as your need for affection is met, then it is Limerence. Worst case, it can lead to suicide. Think of it as love as an addiction instead of a sustenance, really.”

“You don’t have to be nervous.”

“I’m not rambling because I’m nervous. This is how my brain processes thing. I have a bad brain/mouth filter, always have. I don’t explain things because I think people around me are stupid. I do it because my brain can’t help turning an idea around and around and it takes a huge effort to not voice it out loud,” Patterson explained.

Part of the dome started to color, and an image coalesced. Their first meeting played and they both felt her crush being born. Scenes of them walking and talking down corridors as he grazed her back or him leaning over her shoulder as she hid a smile flashed. Her emotions making it harder for her to engage her personal filters and making everyone around her think she was a huge geek as she babbled on. Her ramblings being a re-enforced behavior as it alleviated the anxiety of her crush.

“I didn’t know. I’m sorry I made things hard for you,” Weller apologized.

“It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.” Patterson said.

“Glad you got a handle on things then and aren’t suffering now.” Weller said.

“I can’t even remember the last time it happened,” Patterson said.

An image of Weller praising her about her job performance as they defused a chemical device appeared. Her emotion spiked for a split second which caused her to cut the wire and the bomb went off.

“Oh, my God, that was AFTER Jane… I didn’t even realize. Oh crap,” Patterson put her head down and her hand on her forehead in shame.

“Hey,” Weller grabbed her. “Don’t ever blame yourself. I also felt that there was no hope. You couldn’t have picked a right wire. They were all wrong. You were just hoping what you were not as smart as you truly are. It is not like you ever did anything dangerous or wrong because of how you felt about me.”

Images of when she placed the rules aside because she wanted to please him or trusted him passed. The majority were old ones but there were a few recent one like her telling Jane the DNA matched when she said she was unsure about the rules of telling him in front of Jane before even telling Mayfair. Of NOT telling Jane about the tooth contradiction because he asked her to. Dropping the investigation for the FBI file Mayfair stonewalled her on because he told her to trust Mayfair’s word that there was nothing there.

The emotion was strong in the older memories, but the newer ones were only accompanied with trust and respect.

“See, all I feel is you make a good friend. Nothing bad about that. Friendship SHOULD trump rules. I mean, when I thought you were dead.” Weller said as the scene switched to him ready to pull the trigger on the politician who knew where she was after she had been kidnapped by his serial killer brother. It then switched to him beating up the man and she knew fear had permeated him. “I was so afraid we wouldn’t find you.”

“I also admire you. You are the best agent I have ever worked with.” Images of him praising her in the bomb scene flashed again from his perspective as well as him saying nice work, good work, good job and nice job for the decoy, even when he was the hero who found and disabled the tracker. She felt overwhelmed by his pride and admiration for her.

“Thank you,” Patterson said.

“You’re welcome. You deserve it.” Weller said. “Besides, it isn’t like you love me.”

Patterson closed her eyes and let the images flow. Every hug filled her with happiness, every talk about personal issues filled her with joy, and even his relationship with Jane, though tinged with a slight twinge of pain, was filled with love and happiness that he was happy.

“I’m sorry,” Patterson said as the images ended. Tears fell down her virtual face. “I AM happy for you, I truly am. I will do anything in my power to get Jane back for you. I would never DO anything to ruin your happiness. Please know that.”

“Thank you,” Weller said, and he wrapped his arms around her as she cried. He wasn’t usually an emotional man, but Patterson’s feelings were washing over him like a tidal wave. He was filled by her compassion, admiration, trust and true love.  “Thank you for loving me so unconditionally.”

 

oOo

 

They both faded and awoke back in their bodies. Zoe handed her a tissue as she disconnected her. “Let’s get you up.” Since Zoe was helping Patterson remove the wires and sit up slowly she let her lab tech remove the wires off Weller so he didn’t have to wait.

“Well, I hate to bear bad news but Weller, you DO know it is unhealthy to be in a relationship when in rebound. The computer says you need to deal with your guilt and issues of trust before you proceed further with anyone, let alone Patterson. I won’t be able to get an accurate reading of your potential with her until that happens,” Zoe scolded and then pulled Patterson aside.

In a low voice so as not to be overheard, “I’m sorry, I can’t get rid of that kind of love. You know, you CAN live with it. My father loves Jo but is IN love with Allison. And Jo loves my father but is IN love with Zane. Both their marriages are steady as rocks and they are doing just fine.”

Patterson nodded and excused herself to use the ‘facilities’ while Weller was left talking to everyone. She accessed a terminal, Eureka had the best security she had ever seen and she painstakingly tried to get her job done but wasn’t getting very far. She had been at it for only a few minutes when she felt a man behind her.

“I’m impressed. You got further that anyone I’ve ever met before you hit your first flag. Names Zane Donovan, by the way, top of your list I bet.”

Patterson tried to say something, but Donovan continued. “You are FBI and looking for a hacker. Oh please, I can spot a suit a mile away. You almost fooled me, but Reade and Weller don’t blend well. I read all your FBI files, and that CIA stooge’s, already. Since you only set off my flag and haven’t set off the actually security alerts you should try…”

After explaining things, Patterson and Donovan worked to follow the leads and found the hack was from Kevin Blake’s Lab and further investigation revealed it was Jenna Stark’s DNA code that was in the room at the time. They gathered the team, Jo, Jack, Dr Alisson Blake along with the Director and talked with Jenna. Apparently, she accessed her brother Kevin’s project and altered a few settings which ended up accidentally controlling the missile. She had no idea playing with his rocket tests ended up firing a real live military missile in the ‘outside’ world.

After assuring everyone that there would be no charges filed, everyone that was present for the “big-hacker-reveal” left and it was just the team and Donovan in the Director’s office with him. Weller spoke up. “I guess we should be leaving now Dr. Deacon, Mr. Donovan.”

“No. Stay. It’s late,” Dr Deacon said, less formal and more congenial now that no one was being arrested. “And call me Henry.”

“Call me Zane,” Donovan said. “Henry’s right, stay. Besides, your rooms are already paid for. They are non-refundable. In fact, since the DOD dropped official ownership and tried to mothball the town, any government visit has a two-day minimum charge. The rooms are paid for, might as well take advantage of them.”

 

oOo

 

They ended up all in one car and Weller and Patterson road to the B&B in silence as Reade and Keaton gushed about the technology Eureka had for waste, sanitation, infrastructure and food sources. The pair continued talking even as they split off to their separate room.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I’ll go see if there is a place I can crash.” Patterson said.

“You are my best friend. You don’t make me uncomfortable. That could never happen.” Weller responded. “But if sharing a room with me hurts you then I’ll understand.”

“I guess I should get back to the trail to find Jane’s cure. I probably won’t get much sleep anyways.”

“You know you don’t have to suffer trying to find it for me.”

“Yeah, but she is your wife.” Patterson said. “And my friend. I’m not going to abandon you two.”

“Slowing down is not abandoning us. You need to take care of yourself too. Besides. Jane is my wife. Remi isn’t. Who will we end up with in the end?  And the one in the middle, the one who saved your life. She is a new entity all together.”

“I call her ‘Jami’.”

“That’s appropriate.” Weller said. “When she is ‘Jami’ she is our friends and cares, sometimes, but she does not love me. She sees me as family, a brother, but nothing more.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I asked for the shot to get over her. It seems to be working. The Doc says that I should just talk about her and us and use this device and let it run its course.”

“Why would you do something so stupid. Why would you sacrifice your feelings for her? You were happy, even when she wasn’t around, you were happy dreaming about getting her back” Patterson said.

“I’m not sacrificing anything. The dreams were stupid fantasies. I’m moving forward. I’m being realistic. I don’t think we will get Jane back. I think when this all ends we will get ‘Jami’ and I have to face that.”

“But I’m sure you could spend time with her and ‘Jami’ will end up feeling like Jane did.”

“I’d probably have to give up the badge to get any headway. She helps us, not the government. Us. The badge is a deal breaker for her. She likes you because you were three blind mice. Your moral compass and sense of justice over powers your desire to follow the rules and that appeals to her a lot. Me, not so much.” Weller pointed out. “I may want the rules changed but I generally won’t do anything until it is official. I just need to face the music about our compatibility and move on. It is not like I’ll be ready to date in the morning, Zoe said that even with the chemical help, there is still some grieving time I must go through, but I’ll get there. I’m not expecting you to wait for me, but I’m not oppose to starting anything with you when I’m ready.”

“Friends then.”

“Good friends.”

“Well, I’ll let you get to that thing and I’ll get to my hunting.” Patterson said and opened her equipment. Weller conked out within five minutes, clearly exhausted. Patterson couldn’t think straight, she was so tired, and after staring at her screen for barely an hour, her body gave into the exhaustion too.

 

oOo

 

Weller opened his groggy eyes to see Patterson bent over the desk asleep. He stumbled out of bed and had just enough strength to pick her up and place her in the bed before the perfectly designed mattress pulled him back into slumber next to her.

 

oOo

 

“Breakfast,” a knock at the door announced; with a familiar voice Weller couldn’t quite place. “It will be available for the next hour and a half, but I suggest you get it while it is hot.”

Weller bent over to wake Patterson and she opened her eyes with a groan at his cheery smile and, “Time to eat.”

Patterson made faces before stretching and getting up. “Do we have time for a shower?”

“Yeah, just make it quick. I like my food hot.”

They both went downstairs and sat down at the table where there were already two other guests. They were soon followed by Keaton and finally Reade and another pair of guests. With one chair left unfilled one of the guests began serving themselves and said: “Dig in, don’t wait for Bill.”

Weller’s brain clicked at the name and voice he had heard at the same time as someone came down the stairs and Patterson exclaimed, “Dad?!”

“I’m a dead man.” Weller muttered as he thought of how to explain the room assignments.


End file.
